


Follow You Into The Dark

by qu33nb33



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Running Away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-16
Updated: 2018-09-16
Packaged: 2019-07-13 00:19:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,961
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16006331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/qu33nb33/pseuds/qu33nb33
Summary: Lena runs away.Della chases after her.





	Follow You Into The Dark

**Author's Note:**

> somehow ive managed to not only write for a character that hasnt really appeared yet, but its also an interaction that would probably never happen
> 
> anyways. duck angst, but more importantly, Mom Della and hurt/comfort. della is back by uhh.. not relevant.. and lena is back by also not relevent.. della's been back for a few weeks and lenas been back for two months

"Lena's run away." Beakley's voice had more concern in it than Della had ever heard. It made her freeze, as did the others, and stare up at the woman. Beakley held a note in her hands, apparently the source of said information. "She's been gone at most an hour."

"Wh-why would she run away?" Della's head jerked over, as did Scrooge's, to stare at Webby. The girl was near tears and--if her clenched fists meant anything--near punching something. "We have to find her!"

Scrooge stood from his seat, his dinner untouched in front of him. "Aye. Everybody get in groups of no less than two. Kids, keep your phones on ye, and if anyone finds her send out a text. Meet back at the front door in an hour and we'll go from there." He gestured around the table as he spoke, and everyone was up and gone by the time he finished. Della and Scrooge's eyes met. "She's certainly a McDuck."

There was no animosity in his voice, and Della smiled sheepishly before she briskly followed the others out of the room. She followed Donald, grateful that he had immediately chosen her as a partner. They were twins, always twins, but she hadn't yet gotten back her confidence on where exactly they stood. Their conversations had been few and far between, both of them too stubborn to actually have a 'feelings talk'.

They watched Louie and Huey head out, followed by Beakley and Scrooge, and then Dewey and Webby. 

"We'll head for the amphitheater!" Dewey called over his shoulder as they ran.

Huey and Louie ran after them, "We'll follow the sidewalks into town!"

Satisfied with the kids' decisions, the adults also split up. "One hour!" Scrooge called, barely heard by the distance between them. The sun hadn't started to set yet, but within the hour it would be dark. Della had no doubt they would search through the night if Lena wasn't found then. They didn't quit, especially not on family.

* * *

 

And she was right. It was later, much later, when they set out their third wave of searches. Della checked her phone; 2am. The kids had long since gone back to the manor, but she doubted they slept. Webby had started crying the moment they all returned empty handed the first time. Della doubted she was asleep, but she was at least inside with the other kids and Beakley.

"Lena?" She called as she shined the flashlight around the trees above her. The others checked in town to see if she had gone into any of the restaurants or the 24 hour places, and Della volunteered to search the trees near the house. It was probably equally likely that Lena either skipped town already  _or_ never went further than a mile from the house. 

"Lena!" Della was tired, but her mind buzzed. She would search all night if she had to. She wasn't about to let her family down again, and that included Lena. She didn't know much about the teen (she didn't know much about her boys, either,) but her heart went out to her. She had glimpsed at the note Lena left, desperate for clues on where she'd gone, but it was very, very short.

Lena felt like she didn't belong.

Della sobbed, surprising herself. She hadn't been crying before, hadn't even been close, but the idea of Lena feeling like--well, exactly like  _she_ felt--made her heart leap. She wiped at her eyes quickly. She had--she had no right to be sad, not then, not when it was about Lena. Still, she felt sympathy for the duckling. They had barely talked or even seen each other, but Lena held no animosity or fear towards her. Even Donald, as happy as he was to see her, wasn't completely okay again.

Not that she would ask any of them to be. She had left. She had thought she would come back, but she didn't, and that was that. But Lena, new to the family (Webby was new, but she was basically one of the triplets, which made things hard for Della), had no ill-will or previous ideas of her. She understood how the boys felt as best she could, but personally didn't care one way or another that Della was around.

In a way, Della really appreciated it. They were both fish out of water, outsiders in their own family.

She wished she'd paid more attention.

She almost missed it, but her flashlight flickered across a form that was abnormal compared to the bushes around it. Her heart thudded in her chest as she recognized an overturned, hollow tree, and a form skittering away inside of it. 

She saw the tips of green sneakers and sighed in relief. "Oh, thank God. Lena? Are you okay?"

Her hand went to her phone instinctively to tell the others, but Lena's voice made her stop.

"Go away, go away, go away!"

She had been crying. Was currently crying. Was terrified. Della wanted to cry. She kind of felt terrified too. Her hand inched away from her phone, uncertain. "Sweetie, come on. Let's go back--"

"I'm not going back!" The anger in Lena's voice made Della shrink back, more out of sympathy than fear. "They don't want me there, and I don't want to be there if they-" Her voice cracked. Della kneeled down and carefully crawled forward to peek into the trunk of the tree. She saw Lena, head in her arms, covered in dirt and scratches. She seemed to flinch away as Della drew closer.

Della held out a hand to reach for Lena and immediately realized her mistake. Lena ducked her head down and braced her arms over her head. Her hands grasped at chunks of her hair and feathers and the sight made Della wince. Lena's crying became louder and her breaths more uneven.

Anxiety attack. Della had helped Donald through hundreds of them as they grew up, but that suddenly felt like it was hundreds of years ago and a million miles away.

_Crying child, crying child! The last parenting book I read was about infants--oh, no, don't think about that. Don't think about that now._

"Shhh, sh, sh, sh," She kneeled on the ground outside of the log with Lena just barely out of arm's reach. "It's okay. I'm not angry at you, okay? I won't come closer if you don't want me to. I just want to make sure you're okay." She kept talking, unsure of how much Lena would hear but certain that her tone at least would go through. "You're safe."

She remembered all the times she had seen Lena scared when they were in the manor. It wasn't an every day occurrence, but it was enough to be obvious. Lena was nervous a lot; always just outside of someone's field of vision, always out of arms reach, always out of the room if she even thought someone was mad.

(One of the only things Della and Beakley had talked about since Della had been back was Lena. "We knew her home life wasn't good." She had said simply, "But... You know how it is. All we could do was hope she felt safe enough to be here when she needed to be."

"I think it worked a bit better than intended."

"I agree. At least some things go right.")

She remembered one time, when Dewey had thrown a bouncy ball in the hall. It had bounced back and forth between the walls a dozen times before it launched behind him and shattered a vase. The other kids had eagerly "Ooooh"ed with promises of busting him, except for Lena, who had fallen silent and pale.

Apparently, no one else knew that Lena was severely triggered by the sound of shattering glass.

She grit her teeth and brought herself back to the present moment. She could handle an anxiety attack. She was Della Duck! Anxiety attacks were nothing.

Still, her heart pounded in her chest as she continued saying meaningless things in a soft voice. "You're all scratched up--did you bump into every tree on the way here?" It had worked on Donald, all those years ago. And, sure enough, after several minutes, Lena looked up at her again. It wasn't perfect, and Lena was obviously exhausted, but Della knew she had gotten her point across.

Her knees were going to give out any second, but it was worth it as she saw Lena take several deep, air-thirsty breaths. Whatever had started the attack was gone, and Della felt herself relax a bit.

"What makes you think they don't want you?" Della kept her voice soft, afraid that Lena would try to escape or break down again. She didn't want to push her, not after an attack like that, but she didn't know what else to do. Trying to bring her back in that state would be disastrous, to say the least. "What happened?"

There were a few seconds of silence and Lena looked for an answer. Della could see the tears fall from her eyes and land with soft 'plip's on her t-shirt. Lena kept her eyes low and didn't look Della in the eyes. She sniffled, huffed, and shrugged her shoulders. As out of touch as she was, Della knew that meant she was going to pretend not to care about whatever had happened. "I--They just see me as an extension of Webby. They only put up with me because of her and that dumb promise Scrooge made."

Della knew of the promise. While she didn't know much about Lena's past, she knew a lot about the things that happened during the time Magica came back. He had promised Lena a place in their family, an act which had surprised absolutely no one. To Della's knowledge Scrooge still thought it was a good decision, and she knew he thought highly of Lena. Apparently Lena didn't think the same.

"Lena," She said in a tone that made Lena look up, "I promise you that Scrooge doesn't regret that promise. Believe me, he has a lot of regrets, but you're not one of them." She moved further into the log, gaining confidence when Lena didn't make an effort to move away. She sat shoulder-to-shoulder with her. "And I don't think the others really think that. Just in the time I've been here I've seen you change a lot. You're more... Confident. And everyone adores you."

Lena sighed and seemed to deflate. "Louie said--that I was like an add-on. Just part of the Webby-Lena duo and nothing else."

Della doubted Louie said that exactly, but he probably said something close, and she winced in sympathy. 

"I just--" Lena scrubbed at her face again as her voice broke. Della waited. "I just. I don't want to be just part of a duo, or just Webby's--" Lena looked away quickly. "It feels like I'm with Magica all over again, sometimes."

Della hummed. "Trauma can do that. Your brain gets used to being in trouble, so even sometimes when you're not in trouble your brain freaks out still." She shrugged, "At least, that's how Donald explained it to me once." She paused for a second, and everything was silent except for the sound of crickets. She wondered if there was more to Lena's story than just being under Magica's control.

"The whole Magica thing," She said, awkwardly, "I don't, uh... I know you were under her control for a while, and you made friends with Webby while you were, but I'm afraid I don't really know... Much else." She frowned, unsure if she should have asked sooner or never at all, "What happened?"

They were silent again, and Della took the time to enjoy the sounds of the forest. Everything was silent on the moon. There were no bugs, no dirt, no crickets. She had missed those things, especially on long nights with no chance of sleep. The silence was rivaled only by the loneliness. 

She looked over at Lena and saw the same loneliness that she felt. This was a kid, a child, someone barely older than Webby and the boys, and she looked like she'd seen Hell several times over. It wasn't fair. Della clenched her fists, irritated by the unfairness of it. She couldn't fix it personally, and she should have noticed sooner, but she let herself relax.  She was there now. For  _all_ of the kids.

"I... I'm not just someone Magica controlled. I'm her shadow." Lena's voice was softer, like she was scared. She obviously didn't want to talk, and Della didn't want to make her, but she pushed on anyways. "She _made_ me."

She looked up at Della with a glint in her eye; a challenge. Della recognized it for what it was.

_Do you still love me, after knowing where I've been?_

God, that was a question she was all too familiar with. She could write the book on that one. In contrast, a lot of her problems were her own fault. Lena wasn't at fault for being made, and it wasn't her fault Magica had treated her the way she did. It made Della's heart hurt to imagine that Lena couldn't even see the difference there.

She looped an arm around Lena's shoulders and pulled her in for a hug. It was light, not meant to hold her down, and Lena didn't jerk away like she thought she might. "We don't choose where we come from, Lena. None of us do. You're not at fault for that. You're not in trouble."

She had found the magical phrase, for sure. She wondered how often Lena was in trouble with Magica, for the phrase 'you're not in trouble' to have such a profound effect on her.

Lena pulled back and sniffled. "I was a tool at best and a toy at worst. When Scrooge... He didn't know. Not even Webby did. But then when everything was over with, they just took me in like it was no big deal." She looked away, overwhelmed again, "And I--I don't understand it. It really feels like they don't want to, but they did anyways. And with Webby and the boys, I--" She sighed, shaky, and her shoulders slumped even more. "I got away from Magica so I could  _stop_ being someone's shadow."

Della was surprised at Lena's origins, but she wasn't surprised in the slightest that Scrooge and Webby had been attached to her anyways. She hadn't been exaggerating when she said the family adored her; even Beakley had a fondness for Lena that Della had only seen her have for Webby.

After a moment of thinking, Della smiled. "Did you know Huey threatened to not talk to me if I was mean to you?"

Lena looked up suddenly, obviously surprised. "He--What? Why?"

"Well," Della repositioned herself slightly, "When I first got back, I tried talking to everyone. I didn't know what to do; how do you pick up after ten years, y'know?" She ran a hand through her hair and sighed. "I got an earful from Donald, Scrooge and I cried, and the kids just ignored me. It was hard to deal with all at once."

She leaned her head back against the inside of the log and closed her eyes. The memory made her smile; she had so few memories of the boys that even that one touched her. "When I tried talking to the kids, I got a lot of mixed reactions. But, right off the bat, Huey made himself perfectly clear. Webby was their sister, Donald was their dad, and--"

She turned to look at Lena, who was watching her intently. Her eyes softened, and she smiled. "You were important, too. He said that even though you weren't as close, I wasn't allowed to ignore you or be mean to you." She chuckled, "I don't know where he got the idea I  _would_ be, but I guess he didn't know much about me anyways. That's my own fault."

Lena looked down at her shoes and frowned. "I wasn't that nice to Huey when we first met. But he's smart, and he's a good big brother for the others."

"And you're a good big sister. I've  _seen_ it, Lena. I've seen the things you do for the others. You make sure everyone's involved, you know all of their favorite things, you listen to them when you need them." Della's eyes watered again. She should know all those things too. She should have been there to know them first. "You're not just someone's shadow. And... I should have been paying more attention."

"How so?" Lena looked at her with confusion, "I'm not your kid. No one else cared."

Della didn't know what to say to that. What do you say to a kid that's never had someone care about her before? How do you explain to her what caring even is?

She didn't want to address the kid part. Her uncle's adopted shadow child might not be her kid, sure, but Della wasn't about to  _say_ that. Webby was already grouped in with the boys; she had no doubt that one day (in the near future, maybe, but even the far future would be incredibly lucky to her,) she would have  _kids_ and not just  _boys._

Lena wasn't her kid like the boys, but she was her kid like she was like Webby. It was all family, in the end.

"I told Huey I wouldn't ignore you. And maybe I didn't, but I didn't pay attention, either." Della moved so that she faced Lena entirely, and Lena shifted to do the same. Della reached out and plucked a leaf from Lena's hair. "I saw you were sad. I saw you were lonely. I just assumed someone else would do something about it, or that you would just. Be okay." She shook her head. "I shouldn't have. None of us should have. But I promise you the others do care."

Lena looked at her hard, judging her words. After a moment her face softened. "You've probably felt the same since you've come back." Lena looked at her with the same sympathy she herself felt. She had no doubt that Lena had thought of it before; it didn't appear to be a new idea to her.

"I have." She adjusted some of Lena's hair that had fallen into her eyes. "You knew that. That's what I mean, too. You're not just what Magica made you to be. You're what  _you_ made you to be. You expect me to believe Magica made someone that offers Louie the first sip of her drink? Or someone who learned how to paint nails just to be able to help Webby and Huey do theirs?"

Lena smiled slightly, which was a victory. "I guess not."

"Then I'm right." Della grinned, elated at her apparent comforting abilities. Suddenly she felt her phone buzz, and immediately remembered the other people in their lives. "Oh. Oops. I'm supposed to tell them I found you."

Lena looked  _terrified._ As good as their talk had gone, apparently something still didn't sit right with her. Della frowned and looked down at her phone.

_No luck at the bay._

She glanced back up at Lena, who had begun to look around them in a way Della was familiar with. Which way was the easiest way out?

For all her hypocrisy, awkwardness, and flat out inability to know what she was doing, Della knew there was only one way to do this. She hoped, with everything she had, that for once,  _for once,_ she could make the right choice.

"Tell you what." Lena eyed her with distrust and fear as she spoke, "I won't tell them."

That, obviously, was not what Lena had expected.  _"What?"_ She looked confused and almost angry, like Della had lied or said something mean. But Della only shrugged.

"I won't tell them I found you, unless you come back with me." She gestured behind herself and turned to crawl out. "We'll go back to the house together and talk to the others. Or," She looked away and inched her way out of the log, "Or, I walk away, and go back myself."

It was risky. A stubborn, traumatized teenager could make any decision under the sun. But Della knew what this really meant to Lena, to be seen as an individual and to be seen as someone who mattered.

"But I want you to know everyone else is looking for you. In the morning Scrooge is going to start searching internationally. They found me on the moon, Lena. They'll look for you just as hard." She stood outside the log and leaned down to peer in. "...If you want to leave, you can. And I won't say otherwise."

Lena was silent. Della, not having anything else to say, took that as her chance to turn around and begin the walk back to the manor.

Did she think Lena would stay? She didn't know. She honestly, honestly didn't. She wanted to say she was bluffing, that she would call the others and they would have her found in a few seconds. But the truth was, who was she to judge? She didn't think Lena would go far, if she left at all. Della had gone  _to space_. If they brought Lena back now, against her will, without her being sure where she wanted to be, she'd leave again the next time they took their eyes off of her. She would be reckless.

Della felt an odd sense of pride that she knew was irresponsible, but she smiled at it nonetheless.

She was a good distance away from the log by then. Her heart sank and real fear began to set in. Could she really lie to her family? Could she disappoint them again? Tell them that she let a fifteen year old leave because of some weird sense of camaraderie?

She let out a harsh grunt as something collided with her back.

"Oh, thank God." She muttered as she hugged Lena close to her. "You're going to give me a heart attack."

Lena laughed, her voice still wet and hoarse. "Sorry. Let's go back."

They listened to the crickets chirp as they made their way back to the manor. Della pulled out her phone and managed to text with one hand, her other arm still wrapped around Lena. Lena didn't let go, so neither did she. She never would, if it were possible.

_I found her! We're heading back to the manor now._

Without a doubt the others would find them soon enough on the path back. For the time being, though, they were alone. Lena's feet dragged slightly and she kept her head low. Della remembered the exact same feeling.

"They'll be glad you're back." 

The both knew how Della knew. Lena had only been gone for a night, but Della still knew the shame that came with the impulsive decision to leave. Still, the McDucks wouldn't let her go again. They wouldn't let anyone go again. Come hell or high water, accident or on purpose, it would take more than an army to really separate them again.

"I really just want tonight to be over, honestly." Lena looked up at Della and smiled, afraid but honest. "I think it's still gonna be a long night, though."

Della laughed and rustled her hair. She had hoped for three kids when she came back. Four was a surprise. But five? Five children to love and raise and teach all of her bad habits to?

She was grateful she had Gladstone's luck instead of Donald's.

"Trust me... It gets easier as you go." 

**Author's Note:**

> If there's no one beside you   
> When your soul embarks  
> Then I'll follow you into the dark


End file.
